New York Giants Stressing Pocket Awareness with Daniel Jones

Through five weeks of play, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones boasts the third-best average time to pass attempt among quarterbacks who have taken at least 80% of their team’s snaps.

Jones’s 2.77-second average falls just behind Seattle’s Russell Wilson (2.81 seconds) and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes (2.79 seconds). Yet among that same sample group, Jones has a 61% completion percentage, 12th out of the 13 eligible quarterbacks, while being dead last in touchdown passes thrown and tied for third (with Deshaun Watson of the Texans and Ryan Fitzpatrick of Miami) for most interceptions tossed.

Why is that? One reason could be his on-going struggle to establish a clock in his head regarding how much time he has to throw the ball, an issue that plagued him last season as a rookie.

“Yeah, a pocket presence is an important thing; there's no doubt about it,” said Giants quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski.

“Understanding what we're trying to accomplish on each play is another part that goes into that. So some of the plays are designed to get the ball out really quick, and some of the deeper ones down the field, and even some of the third downs it's big.”

Overall, the Giants have allowed 97 pressures through five games. According to PFF’s that’s the highest number of pressures allows in the league, just edging out the Bengals (95) for the league lead.

Those pressures have certainly been a factor, but there have been other reasons for Jones’ sluggish start, the biggest one being how quickly he processes what he's seeing.

As was the case during his rookie season, Jones has a general understanding of what to do with the ball on every play. But where he often gets into trouble is when he has to deviate. This has led to him sometimes trying to fit balls into tight windows, leading to unfavorable results.

Along those lines, Jones is also trying to get better at going through his progressions. According to PFF, Jones graded out with a 72.2 when making throws on a first read, but then that number dropped to 48.5 when he attempted to thrown on second or third reads.

Another problem that has started to creep into Jones’ game is that he has been drifting backward in the pocket rather than stepping up.

In this play, Jones drops back and starts to get pressure from his right. Despite having room to escape to the left, he drifts backward another two yards, making the throw harder for himself.

Here is the play in motion.

Take note of Jones' feet--although he completed the pass to Devonta Freeman, had Jones moved up and away from the pressure, he might have been better able to set his feet.

By retreating in the pocket instead of using his legs to slide around, Jones is hurting his chances of getting a ball to a receiver down the field and usually ends up settling for something underneath--if he connects at all.

“The biggest thing we're just trying to emphasize is, ‘Let's move in the pocket, get our feet set and get a good throw off,’” Schuplinski said. “It doesn't always work out, but that's what, that's what the goal is.”

Overall, Schuplinski likes the progress Jones has made from the start of camp and thinks there is a lot more to like about Jones’s game than to dislike.

“He has made progress in areas in a lot of ways,” Schuplinski said. “His balls are coming out pretty fast. He's good at his communication up at the line of scrimmage and trying to get things organized. He's done a good job of mixing up some snap counts and cadences.

“I think the accuracy has been pretty good and he's, he's done better with decision making. I think that progress has been good to see from him.”